This invention relates to a disposable protection mask for protecting a wearer from the smoke and fumes of a fire, or other conflagration.
The majority of fatalities in a fire are caused by inhaling smoke and fumes generated by the flames and heat of the fire, exceeding those caused by the flames and heat themselves. In many instances victims lose their way in the smoke with many dying just a few feet from safety. Not only is their vision obstructed by the smoke itself, but many times the irritants in the smoke or fumes cause victims to involuntarily close their eyes. Thus, even if a victim is able to hold his breath or cover his mouth to prevent breathing the smoke or fumes, the victim very often loses his way because of the involuntary reaction of his eyes to the smoke or fumes.
Many times a would-be rescuer rushes into a building to search for relatives or victims and is overcome by breathing smoke or loses his way to become a victim himself. For these reasons many fatalities occur even when the victims are familiar with the building in which they are trapped.
Prior smoke protection masks are cumbersome and of bulky construction and are normally associated with a separate air or oxygen supply. The prior masks are generally intended for use by fire fighting personnel over an extended period of time for conducting search and rescue operations and for fighting the fire. Many masks are custom fit for each wearer, or include complicated adjustments in order to form a seal between the mask and the face of the wearer.
The protection mask of the present invention has an opening for a person's head with an elastic band sewn into the head opening so that the mask is held snugly in place about the entire head of the wearer. The illustrative embodiment of the mask includes a filter made from layers of surgical gauze with cotton between the layers for forming an inexpensive filter means. This filter gives the wearer sufficient time to quickly exit a smoke filled building or other site without being overcome by the smoke. The mask has an exhaust valve of simple and inexpensive construction for exhausting the breath of the wearer when the wearer exhales but which closes when the wearer inhales outside air through the filter into the mask.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a protection mask of simple and inexpensive construction.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a protection mask which is disposable after use.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a protection mask which gives short term protection to its wearer such that the wearer may escape from a smoke filled building or may search for a victim in a smoke filled or burning building without being overcome by the smoke or having his vision impaired by irritants in the smoke.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a protection mask which may be easily stored in a convenient package but which may be rapidly donned in the event of an emergency.